Tuesday, September 28, 2010

*Murray is 1-3 this season, but two of their losses were in tight games to SEMO and Central Arkansas. They were beaten fairly handily by FBS opponent, Kent. What makes them scary this weekend is their dominant performance againt UTM.

*No sympathy from the Gamecocks who have suffered more than their fair share of injuries, but Murray's leading receiver Daniel Ard will miss the game. Ard had 28 catches on the year averaging about 70 a game.

*Murray has not played the run particularly well this year giving up about 4.6 yards per run play. This may bode well for the Gamecocks who appear to be rushing the ball better. Hopefully, Middleton will return to action on Saturday.

*By contrast, Murray had not run the ball well until the UTM game. However, they appear to have found a running back in Mike Harris who had 119 yards against UTM. The Tulsa product rushed for over 2,000 yards his senior year in high school.

*Murray will play a Mike Leach style Texas Tech offense. Coach Crowe says that they are the quickest team the Gamecocks have faced, including Ole Miss. One plus, however, is that for the first time this season (because of various reasons), the Gamecocks have a sense of certainty about what their opposition will do on defense. This game will be a test for the Gamecock secondary and demand good pass coverage from the linebackers.

*Murray recruited Coty Blanchard really hard. Coach Hatcher says he sat at two or three Cherokee County basketball games attempting to convince Coty to renege on his committment to Jacksonville State.